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Suicide prevention charity Darkness Into Light: Join Brussels fundraising walk at sunrise on 10 May
Darkness Into Light Belgium is fundraising in support of mental health and suicide prevention at a walk in Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels on 10 May.
Participants in the annual 5km walk or run will meet before dawn and set off at 5.00 to welcome the sunrise in a symbolic act of hope
For 2025, the event’s charity partner is Community Help Service (CHS), which provides a vital service in Brussels with a free 24/7 helpline in English for children, adolescents and adults.
Money raised by the event will be donated to CHS as well as Pieta House in Dublin in Ireland, which launched the initiative in 2009. It has since been adopted by countries worldwide
For Sarah Ironside, chairperson of the Belgian Darkness Into Light Committee, the fundraising will help ensure support is there when it’s needed most.
"I’ve been involved in organising the Darkness Into Light walk in Belgium for eight years, and every year I see how much it means to our international community based here. At any time, any one of us may need the free services CHS provide,” she said.
“Whether you’ve been affected by suicide or self-harm, or you would like to show your support, the committee invites you to register to walk with us,” added Ironside.
CHS president Jeremy Jennings said: “Darkness Into Light is more than a fundraiser – it’s a powerful statement of hope, solidarity, and community support.”
For more information, to register, or to find out how you can get involved, visit darknessintolight.ie or follow Darkness Into Light Belgium on Facebook, LinkedIn and dilbelgium on Instagram.
Comments
Why did you remove my comments about this discriminating organization? They are only serving white middle class. They refuse service to Muslims. Health service cannot be done with discrimination. Removing this criticism is being biased and hiding the facts. Why did you remove my previous comment? This is against freedom of expression. I will keep on writing this till this s heard.
Their organization deselects people who come from Muslim countries. They send them to psychologists in Schaerbeek. This is a fact. I can prove this by their communication. They discriminate agains the Muslim psychologist in Schaerbeek as well. Although she is British, they do not accept her to CHS, the keep her aside to send the Muslims to her. This is the state of mind of Community Help Service. They should change their name as White Middle Class Community Help Service. After they do that I will not continue writing my comments.
All donations to our organisation go towards supporting the CHS Helpline. Our 24-hour Helpline is a confidential listening service in English, and we never ask callers for personal information. CHS supports a diverse community and we strive to support as many people as possible. However, at times our Mental Health Services Centre has more demands than it can accommodate, and we do our best to provide callers with the contact details of other mental health professionals.
Community Help Service asks personal information on the phone although they say they do not. Although they claim they give services in English, the first question they ask is the languages the child speaks and from that information they derive which country they are from. No hospital or health service in Belgium ever asks this information. Although I have clearly pointed out that we do not have any time constraints and we can wait, my daughter is directly forwarded to a psychologist according to their prejudices. European values say people cannot be discriminated according to their religion and their countries of origin but CHS clearly is not run with these values.